Where do the Khazars live? What kind of people are the Khazars? Ancient and modern Khazars

Khazars (Hebrew כוזרים‎ (kuzarim), Arabic خزر‎‎ (Khazar), Greek Χαζαροι (Khazar), Old Russian Kozare, Latin Gazari, Cosri) are a Turkic-speaking nomadic people. Became known in the Eastern Ciscaucasia (plain Dagestan) shortly after the Hun invasion. It was formed as a result of the interaction of three ethnic components: the local Iranian-speaking population, as well as alien Ugric and Turkic tribes. The Khazar language is extinct. Khazar were called Black and, less commonly, Sea of ​​Azov(at that time, the Khazars’ positions in Crimea were very strong). The Caspian Sea is also called the Khazars in Middle Eastern languages ​​- see Khazar Sea. On land, the name "Khazar" was retained for the longest time by the Crimea (in Byzantine and Italian sources until the 16th century). According to some researchers (B.N. Zakhoder), the Khazar ethnic group had a dualistic basis, uniting two main tribes - white and black Khazars (Kalis-Khazars and Kara-Khazars). Moreover, the white Khazars were tall, light-eyed and fair-haired, while the black Khazars were short and dark-haired. Supporters of a different point of view (M.I. Artamonov, A.P. Novoseltsev) consider this division not ethnic, but social and point to a more complex organization. In close connection with the Khazar tribal union were the Barsils, Savirs, Balanjars, etc. Later they were partially assimilated. The closest to the Khazars were the Barsils, together with whom they are often mentioned in initial period history, and the country of Bersilia appears in the sources as the starting point from which the Khazar expansion in Europe begins. The Khazars are descendants of the Hun tribe Akatsir, known in Europe since the 5th century (A.V. Gadlo, O. Pritsak). The Khazars are of Uyghur origin, from the Central Asian Kho-sa people mentioned in Chinese sources. (D. Dunlop) (see main article Uyghur theory of the origin of the Khazars). The Khazars are descendants of the Hephthalites who migrated to the Caucasus from Khorasan (Eastern Iran) (D. Ludwig). The Khazars descend from a tribal union formed by the Ogurs, Savirs and, at the final stage, the Altai Turks. (P. Golden, M. I. Artamonov, A. P. Novoseltsev). Until the 7th century, the Khazars occupied a subordinate position in successive nomadic empires. In the 560s ended up as part of the Turkic Kaganate, after the collapse of the latter in the middle of the 7th century they created their own state - the Khazar Kaganate (650-969), which became one of the most durable nomadic associations in this region. Initially living in the area north of Derbent within modern lowland Dagestan, the Khazars began to settle in controlled regions: in the Crimea, on the Don and especially in the Lower Volga region, where the capital of the state was moved in the 8th century. Several groups of Khazars, as a result of long wars against Iran and the Arab Caliphate, were forcibly resettled in Transcaucasia. Later, many high-ranking ghulams of the Abbasid Caliphate were of Khazar origin. It is also known about the existence of a Khazar garrison in Constantinople and a Khazar-Jewish community in Kyiv (the Kozary tract exists in Kyiv to this day). In the first half of the 9th century, three Khazar families, called Kavars, left the country due to political strife and joined the Hungarians, with whom they came to Pannonia and were subsequently assimilated. After the fall of the Khazar Khaganate in the second half of the 10th century, the Khazars disappeared into the Polovtsian environment. Some of the ethnic Khazars who professed Judaism, in all likelihood, joined the Central European Jewish communities. Some representatives of the Turkic-speaking communities - Karaites and Krymchaks, as well as Iranian-speaking Mountain Jews, consider themselves descendants of the Khazars. The Khazar roots may be from the Kumyks. A new enemy appeared among the Khazars with the formation of Kievan Rus. The question of the so-called Russian Kaganate, which was first mentioned in sources under the year 839, is not clear enough. The title of Kagan was later borne by the princes of Kyiv, and its use in the 9th century is usually regarded as a claim to equality with the Khazars. Be that as it may, the Varangian squads that penetrated into Eastern Europe began to successfully challenge the hegemony of the Khazars over the Slavic tribes. The Polans (864), Northerners (884) and Radimichi (885) were freed from the Khazars. Responding to the challenges that arose, the Khazars, with the help of Byzantium, built a series of fortresses on the northeastern borders. OK. In 834, the Kagan and the Bek turned to Emperor Theophilus with a request for help in the construction of the Sarkel fortress. The fortress was located on the left bank of the Don and became the main stronghold of the Khazars in the region. In addition to Sarkel, as archaeological data indicate, a network of similar fortifications was created along the tributaries of the Don. In con. IX - 1st half. X centuries The Khazar Khaganate weakened, but still continued to remain an influential state thanks to a trained army and skillful diplomacy. The rulers pursued a policy of maneuvering between three major forces: Byzantium (which had lost interest in allied relations), nomads and Russia. In con. 9th century During the reign of King Benjamin, a coalition organized by Byzantium, consisting of the Pechenegs, Black Bulgars and several other nomadic tribes, came out against Khazaria. The Khazars defeated it with the support of the Alans. Under the next king, Aaron, Byzantium managed to destroy the Khazar-Alan alliance, and now the Khazars defeated the Alans with the help of one of the nomadic leaders. The Alanian king was captured, but received with honor. He gave his daughter to Aaron's son Joseph.

Today I had an extra movie. I see a newspaper with color photographs, a modern newspaper, an ordinary one, well, “ Russian newspaper", For example. I start reading, and I can’t understand in any way what language it is written in. On the front page there is a photo of Erdogan, and the caption to it and the text of the article are written in a letter unknown to me. This is neither Georgian nor Armenian. Not Hebrew or hieroglyphs. Looks more like runic writing, but I've never seen one like this before. I ask: “What language is the newspaper in?” The answer sounds in my head: - “Khazar”.

What nonsense. I “turned over” so much material in search of material evidence of the existence of Khazaria, and became convinced that reliable information about the Khazar writing simply does not exist.

In the morning, over a cup of coffee, I come across an unsolved crossword puzzle that my wife “tormented” last night, and in the most prominent place I come across the question “Prophetic Avenger of the Khazars,” with four letters. “Oleg” - written in the boxes by his wife’s hand. School curriculum I haven't forgotten yet. And then I remember my vision, and how I was scalded with boiling water. A sign, though. You need to think. And this is what my thoughts led to.

What do we even know about Khazaria? Even if you briefly run through the known facts, and even then very serious doubts arise about the existence of the Khazar Kaganate in the form as it was discussed in textbooks. Everything, absolutely everything that is known to the average citizen on this issue is based on one paragraph from a textbook, and the map of “ancient Khazaria” imprinted in the memory, which someone completely arbitrarily painted over modern map one color.

Today, this version of the presence of the Kaganate on the territory of modern Russia is actively exaggerated by those who are sure that the Jews want to “chop off” from Russia its ancestral lands under the guise of restitution. In general, the concerns are fair. They “chopped off” Palestine only on the basis that some kind of Jehovah promised them this land as their property, and no one except the Jews themselves ever knew about this promise.

Moreover, what is actually happening now is completely consistent with these plans. Even if there are no plans, Jewish expansion is beyond doubt for a sane person. It is forbidden to talk about it in “independent” Russian media, but there is no escaping the facts. Plans for the construction of “New Khazaria” are being implemented before our eyes.

But today we have a different task. It is necessary to understand how information about the Khazar Kaganate appeared in world history. We won’t touch Pushkin, he died just recently, and it’s unlikely he knew the truth about how everything really happened. What other sources do we have? Again, everything comes down to “The Tale of Bygone Years,” or rather to its Radzivilov list, which today only the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation believes, probably, and even then I doubt it.

The Cambridge Document, or otherwise Schechter's letter (named after the discoverer. Who would doubt it! A Kyrgyz could not have found a document of such importance.) is a manuscript in Hebrew. Contains a fragment of a letter from an unnamed Jew, a subject of the Khazar king Joseph, to an unnamed gentleman from a Mediterranean country. One of two (along with the letter of King Joseph) written monuments of Khazar origin.

The author at the time of writing was in Constantinople (Remember this important point!). The addressee of the letter with a high degree of probability is the Cordoba dignitary Hasdai ibn Shaprut, who collected information about Khazaria. The time of writing can be dated to around 949.

The letter contains unique information on the history and religion of the Khazars, the resettlement of Jews to Khazaria, and the activities of the last three Khazar kings: Benjamin, Aaron and Joseph. Of particular interest is the story about the author’s contemporary Russian-Khazar-Byzantine war in the Black Sea region, where the Russian leader is named H-l-g-w, which conveys the exact Scandinavian form of the name Oleg.

Is the mention coincidental? Prophetic Oleg in Schechter's letter? Of course not. The one who falsified this “document” was definitely familiar with the work of A.S. Pushkin, and so that no one would doubt that the letter was genuine, I could not resist the temptation to mention Oleg in it. Probably on the eve of the First World War, it looked quite convincing, but not today.

There is another “convincing” document... Consisting of as much... From one phrase in “ancient Khazar”:

Allegedly, it was a Khazar official - the censor who signed the Kyiv charter. The inscription was translated as “I READ THIS.” And can this be taken seriously?

So... What else do we have besides the works of historians of the 19th and 20th centuries? Yeah! Probably, as in the cases of ancient civilization, Sumerian or Egyptian, coins, brooches, jugs and rings with inscriptions in the Khazar language remained on the territory of ancient Khazaria? Pipes! All archaeological finds in this region have clear signs of belonging to the Scythian and Sarmatian culture. This suggests that not only were there never Jews here, but the Polovtsians and Pechenegs were not Turks, but the same Slavs as the sedentary inhabitants around them.

Look at the scam I discovered on Wikipedia. In the article about Khazaria there is a reference to a certain treasure with Khazar treasures:

The discoverer of this masterpiece, as one might expect, is again not Ivanov. Click on the link to find out what Comrade Finkelstein found there. And for some reason we end up on an English-language article on Wikipedia. Okay, let's not be lazy, click on the page forward, and we get...

This is what the Jews themselves call chutzpah. Proving the existence of Khazar material culture in the Kuban, they refer to the Bulgarian Tsar! Unprecedented impudence!

Okay... What else do we have Khazar? Without a doubt, in the wake of Ukrainian events, a little bauble, which was previously known only to specialists, mainly in the field of customs law, became widely known to everyone. This is tamga.

People don’t understand what tamga is, and they think that it’s Hebrew, Khazar money. In some ways they are right, since the word “money” itself is derived from “tamga”. What is tamga?

Tamga is the seal that the publican put on bags of goods on which the carriage duty was paid, so that at the next outpost the merchant would not be charged a second customs duty - tamga. Thus, tamga is not coins, and not these pendants with tridents, but actually paid customs duties, no matter in what currency, they were often paid in kind as a percentage of the transported goods. You are carrying ten jugs of oil, you gave one to customs, and the other nine received a “tamga” stamp.

From the word “tamga” the word “customs” arose (the place where tamzhat - they collect tamga). And in Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish and some other languages, another name was fixed - “mytnya” (mitnya, mitnitsa), after the name of the tax collectors - tax collectors.

But it is logical that the publican’s seal was periodically changed in order to avoid forgeries. Merchants have always been cunning, and stick seals on the left customs goods, they could do as much as they wanted. And if so, then the types of tamga - the seal were visible - invisible. But modern professors explain this issue in their own way, so as to stretch the facts so that everyone believes in the existence of the Khazaria, and they explain such diversity by the fact that each “Khazar” had his own ancestral tamga... Oh, it’s not even funny.

I don’t know who first launched the “canard” that the picture above shows Khazar tamga money. I only know that such signs with a trident were previously called “dshchitsy”, and served as a mandate, visa, and safe conduct. Marco Polo writes about this in his book “On the Diversity of the World.”

Here again it is necessary to clarify. Brothers, this is the father and uncle of Marco Polo; Marco himself was still a boy while traveling through Great Tartary.

So here it is. The table is not a table at all, but a table. The travelers came to the Great Khan of Tartary (today he would be called the President of Russia), and he gave them a personal medal, a tablet with his personal seal - a diving falcon. This is NOT tamga. This is a talisman confirming that foreigners travel with his personal permission, and the bearers of this enjoy immunity. Having presented the document to the khans and princes (in our opinion, governors and heads of regions) of the provinces through which the route of the Veneti (Apennine Slavs), also known as Venetians, lay, travelers could count on all possible assistance. Security, assistance, and even provision of provisions and pit horses.

The guards also differed in the metal from which they were minted. Gold ones gave maximum powers, silver ones gave the owner less rights, and iron ones were given to many service people. More recently, archaeologists in Yaroslavl discovered a piece of clothing that supposedly belonged to Alexander Nevsky himself. So much for the debate about the “Mongol-Tatar yoke.” The fact that the President vests the governor with local powers with a certificate is not considered a yoke now. And historians call the fact that Nevsky went to the Great Khan to get a title (label) almost a betrayal of the prince!

But the fact is that Kyiv Prince Vladimir minted coins with the seal of the Great Khan, which most likely indicates that he received permission to mint his own Kyiv coins from the Great Khan of Tartary himself. Who was there before Chingiz? And Javan himself! Son of Japeth, grandson of Noah.

Although by blood he was most likely a Jew. The son of the Jewish housekeeper Malushka (Malka, Malanya) could not be Russian; among Jews, kinship is transmitted through the mother. His portrait is more than eloquent.

The surnames Malakhov, Malkov, Malkin, and their derivatives were borne only by Jews in Russia.

And he took the “Christian” faith again from... Constantinople. Remember at the beginning of the note I drew attention to the fact that the “Cambridge” document was written in Constantinople? Now I again draw attention to the fact that Prince Oleg, who went down in history as the first fighter against the Khazar ghouls, and even suffered death from them, nailed his shield to the gates of Constantinople. Now the question is: why did he kill the Khazars and hang up a shield for the Byzantines?

Well, onwards. There is no Khazar language, no household items, no tools, no weapons, no documents, maybe on the maps somewhere? And with that big problems. Cartography during the period to which the existence of Khazaria is attributed (650-969) was in its infancy. I have a map, presumably from the eighth century, and it has a lot of interesting details, but there is no hint of Khazaria.

This is a fragment of Claudius' map; to view it in its entirety, click on the image.

The island in Azov has long been gone. The Riphean mountains have turned into Northern ridges, and they are not observed at all on the territory of Ukraine. The Volga is quite recognizable. Both the Kuban and Don rivers are indicated quite accurately. Two other rivers nearby are also quite identifiable, only now they have become very shallow, and are called Mius and Kagalnik. Ta-Dam!! KAGALNIK. So there was a Kaganate!

And who says that it wasn’t? Prince Vladimir, among other titles, was also Kagan! But this does not mean at all that at the end of the tenth century the Khagans were Jewish kings. In the Bible, the Jews simply have kings, or am I wrong?

Yeah! You say what to do with the Jewish surnames Kogan, Koganovich, Cohen and Hogan? And the answer is right before your eyes. Kogan is spelled with an “O”, and Kagan with an “A”. and It is not the result of linguistic transformation. Because from Persian, “Khazar” (هَزَارْ‎, hâzâr) means “thousand”, and “Kagan” most likely also has a Persian (Farsi) etymology.The words “Caesar” and “king”, according to A. Rona-Tash, appeared precisely from the word hâzâr. Why not? And Kogan is the surname of Ashkenazis - German and Polish Jews, and it means... Lyubimov. In Ukrainian, even now, “love” is “kohannya”.

Theater director Yuri Lyubimov is also an Ashkenazi, and his parents probably became his favorites when they received Soviet passports. At that time, all the kohans (kohans) became favorites, and the tsukermans became sugar ones.

Ask why I was looking for the etymology of “Khazar” in Farsi? It's that simple. The Khazar tribes still live in northern Iran, i.e. in Persia, and this is what they look like:

And you want to say that these are Jews? No, guys are democrats... Of course, the Khazars existed and did not disappear anywhere. As they were a small nation, they remained so. And there is no Jewish empire called the “Khazar Khaganate” in the territory it occupies modern Russia, never existed. This is confidently confirmed by DNA genealogy studies. If Jews had ruled Sarmatia for more than three hundred years, how did it happen that there were no traces of Jewish chromosomes left in the blood of the modern original inhabitants of the Kuban and the North Caucasus? There is no way this can happen. We have neither Mongolian nor Jewish traces. Consequently, the “Jewish Kaganate” is the same fiction as the “Mongol yoke.”

The Khazars could live in the Kuban, and their princes could be called Khagans, but they were not Jews, but the same Slavs, only their language was Persian or Arabic, like the Pechenegs and Polovtsians. And they could periodically plunder the settlements of the Northern Slavs, but no one paid them tribute for sure. And Vladimir added the post of Kagan to his titles, most likely because he became the ruler of the Khazars. This is a common practice of monarchs; with each new subject of the federation, a new title was added.

Here Ivan the Terrible went on a business trip to Pleskavia and Novgorod, and immediately became, in addition to his previous specialties, the Prince of Pskov and the Prince of Novgorod. So does Vladimir. Isn't this normal?

In general, we have a retreat on all fronts. No tongue. There is no writing, no artifacts, no maps, nothing. There is not a single clue that gives a reasonable reason to assume the existence of a Jewish empire in the Kuban and northern Caucasus. Maybe there are legends about the famous Khazar Khagans, or military leaders? Eat. Kagan Bulan, supposedly the founder of the Khazar empire, but we also know about him from the false Radzivilov list.

What other Presidents of Khazaria have we heard about? Chanukah and Passover were also supposedly Khazar leaders. Well, I don’t know what to say. Purim is just not enough. And besides them they remember Joseph and Aaron. But where did they rule? In Constantinople. Those. in Constantinople. In Byzantium. Again, all roads lead to Istanbul. Accidentally? No, I don't think so. The true Jewish state was Byzantium. And true Jewish culture is Christianity with all the attributes now attributed to Byzantium. Well, it was necessary to fill in the 1000 years missing in history with something?

Jews have been unsuccessfully searching for traces of their culture in Palestine and the Kuban for 150 years, and cannot find anything. Why? Yes, because they themselves were treated like suckers. They told tales about “ancient Judea” and convinced them that their culture was special, unlike anything else, and in fact, Jerusalem was Byzantium. And Jesus is the prophet Isa, aka Yusha, who came from the east and began to teach wisdom to the Jews who were mired in depravity.

And they fled not from Egypt, but from the Bosporus to Europe. They fled from the Ottomans. That is why Arab and Jewish genes were so intertwined in Asia Minor. This is where it all comes together.

And Fomenko’s version that Jerusalem is Constantinople, and Jesus was crucified on the shore of the Bosporus Strait, is fully confirmed.

And the tomb of Jesus still exists in the suburbs of Istanbul, on Beykos Hill, which in the Bible bears the name of Golgotha.

Painting from the 17th century. "The rest of the inhabitants of Constantinople at the tomb of Saint Jesus." In the perspective are the ruins of the Yoros fortress. This is the real Jerusalem.

And this is how Beykos and Jerusalem look today. View from the grave of Isa Khazarin (Yushi Khazar).

The Latin version of the Bible of the 15th century contains references to the fact that Jesus was executed on the Bosphorus in the area where biblical Jerusalem was located:

"Obadiah 1:20 et transmigratio exercitus huius filiorum Israhel omnia Chananeorum usque ad Saraptham et transmigratio Hierusalem quae in Bosforoest possidebit civitates austri..."

The Ostrog Bible preserves a description of the weather in the area in which Jerusalem was supposedly located, and nothing to do with desert climate it does not have today's Jerusalem. It talks about cold, rainy and snowy weather! Under Empress Catherine, this was removed and they wrote that it was simply very cold. And then this paragraph was removed altogether.

This is what Jesus' tomb looks like today:

On the sign at the entrance there is the inscription: Нz. YUSA (Khazreti - Saint Yusha), and next to it are signs with quotes from the Koran. For the uninitiated, it is worth explaining that in Islam, Yusha - Isa (Jesus) is highly revered as someone who endured suffering for his faith. His name is mentioned in the Holy Book of Muslims over 100 times!

The famous old Russian text “The Walking of Abbot Daniel” contains a description of the Gospel Jerusalem.

In a modern Russian translation, a fragment of this text sounds like this:

“The Crucifixion of the Lord is located on the east side ON A STONE. It was high, HIGHER THAN A COPY. THAT STONE WAS ROUND, LIKE A SMALL SILL.

AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT STONE, AT THE VERY TOP, THERE IS A HOLE CARVED ABOUT AN ELBOW DEPTH, AND LESS THAN A SPATH WIDE IN THE CIRCLE (in the perimeter). THE CROSS OF THE LORD WAS PLACED HERE.

In the ground, under that stone, lies the head of the primordial Adam... And that stone broke apart over Adam's head... AND THERE IS THIS CRAFT ON THE STONE TO THIS DAY... THE CRUCIFIX OF THE LORD AND THAT HOLY STONE ARE SURROUNDED WITH A WALL... OF DOORS THE SAME (IN THE WALL) TWO."

This description by Daniel of the site of Christ's crucifixion corresponds perfectly to what we see today on Mount Beykos on the outskirts of Istanbul. Namely, a round stone like a small slide with a hole at the very top, in the center. There is a crack in this stone.

Now attention! In Turkish, “Saint Yusha” sounds like “Hazreti Yusa”. HAZRETI is... A NAZORITE? Slavic letter N and Latin H are written the same, but read differently: one as N, and the other as X. So “N” and “X” could turn into each other, and from the word NAZORITE could get HAZORITE or HAZRETI.

Those. Yusha (Jesus) was not any “Nazarene”; he was not from Nazareth, but from Khazaria. Then everything comes together. In the Bible it is so funny that it is written that the Magi saw a star in the EAST, and followed it, found a baby, brought him gifts, etc. But the Bible also says that the Magi came from the EAST with gifts. Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Stop Zorka! They saw a star in the EAST and went to the EAST, but came again from the EAST. How is that?

Aw! Christians, who can tell where the Magi came from and where they were going? Everything falls into place if in Constantinople they saw a star that lit up in the east, and so it was, this is a supernova outbreak, the Crab Nebula, which happened in the first half of the 12th century. And then, 33 years later, Yusha came from the east. Who differed from the Byzantines in that he cut through the truth.

Went to Christian churches, and drove out the priests selling candles and Cahors. And from the doors of the temples he drove away the moneylenders sitting on banks (folding chairs), who gave money at interest. Bankers sitting on banks is an original Jewish business, isn't it?

"In the summer of 5500, the eternal king, the Lord our God Jesus Christ, was born in the flesh on the 25th day of December. The circle of the Sun was then 13, the Moon was 10, the index of the 15th, on the day of the week at the 7th hour of the day"(Palea, sheet 275, verso).

“The third kingdom of Tiberius Caesar. In the summer of August 5515, the Caesars took over the kingdom of Tivirius, son of the Caulians, and reigned in Rome for 23 years. With this, the great coward was quick and ruined, 13 degrees even the earth was crushed. At the age of 15, Christ FROM IVAN IN THE JORDAN RECE, 30 years of age in his month of Genvar on the 6th day at the 7th hour days of indictment 15 circle of the Sun 3 ring fingers. And from that time I chose a disciple for myself, 12, and began to work miracles, and after baptism he was on earth 3 years until his holy passion. With this Tivirius there was both the SAVED PASSION and the RESURRECTION of our Lord Jesus Christ. Years in the 18th year of the kingdom of Tiviri, our Lord Jesus Christ suffered for salvation for man in the year 5530 March on the 30th day, on Friday at the 6th hour of the day, index 3, circle of the Sun 7, Moon 14, and Easter to the Jew"(Palea, sheet 256, verso, sheet 257).

And then, when the Muslims learned about what the Jews had done to their beloved prophet Isa, they went to war against Jerusalem - Constantinople, and they coddled everyone who participated in earnest, as they know how. But most of the bankers managed to collect 40 tons of gold, and fled to Spain - Iberia, and the Rhine. The first became Sephardim, the second Ashkenazi. Now do we understand the roots of the mutual hatred of Jews and Arabs, which smolders at the genetic level?

This is probably not all I wanted to say about the Khazars. Yes, definitely not everything. But that's not scientific work, not a dissertation, just thoughts. To put an end to a matter that can only be stopped, but not completed, I will express a couple more thoughts.

It seems to me that modern Cossacks these are also Khazars. It’s not for nothing that people called them “barracks”! And the northern goose, the goose, also got its name from the Khazars. And the hussars are also Cossacks - Khazars. Agile, sharp, tough, born warriors who were the first to domesticate horses.

And no moneylenders.

P.S. Incredible but true. I had just posted a note when I “accidentally” came across a picture with a font that I instantly recognized! Rune hieroglyphs from a newspaper with a photo of Erdogan in my extra film!

Do you know what this “doodle” is?

This is Mongolian writing! That's what it is!

Slavic tribes, as we have already said, settled in the forest and forest-steppe zone. And since ancient times, the steppe was dominated by nomadic pastoralists. In the 6th century, the Huns were replaced by Avars, who subjugated part of the Slavic tribes on the Danube. In the VII-VIII centuries. power over the steppes passed to the Khazars. They, like the related Huns and Avars, spoke Turkic languages ​​and achieved dominance over many Turkic and Iranian-speaking peoples of the Black Sea region and the North Caucasus. Among the Turkic peoples there were also Bulgarians who did not submit to the Khazars. They migrated across the Danube and, together with the Slavs who lived beyond the Danube, created their own state - Bulgaria. Another nomadic horde of Bulgarians retreated to Middle Volga, where the state of Volga Bulgaria appeared.


Nomadic warrior from the Black Sea region.

The Khazars also conquered the Slavic tribes that lived close to the steppes, in the Middle Dnieper region - the Polans, Northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi on the Oka. Nomadic pastoralists could not do without farmers - after all, they and their livestock, primarily war horses, needed bread. Therefore, they demanded tribute from the farmers. The Slavic farmers perceived it as a yoke - a yoke that was put on them, as if on arable animals.

The chronicle tells that the glades came under the rule of the Khazars after the death of the legendary founders of Kyiv. The ruler of the Khazars, the Khagan (Khan of Khans), demanded tribute, and the glades sent him swords as tribute. The wise Khazar elders predicted to the ruler: no good will come from this tribute, we achieved it with sabers - a weapon sharpened on one side, and the swords of the glades are double-edged. With these more formidable weapons, the tributaries will defeat the Khazars and “will take tribute from us and other countries.” And so it came true, writes Nestor: in 965, Prince Svyatoslav defeated the army of the Kagan.

Khazar warrior 9th century. He has a straight sword sharpened on one side, a battle ax and a bow with a quiver full of arrows. The horse's bridle and belt are decorated with silver plaques.

Having established themselves in the North Caucasus, the Khazars began to make campaigns in Transcaucasia and Crimea - the Black Sea possessions of Byzantium. But another wave of conquerors moved towards them from Western Asia. These were Arabs who spread a new religion, Islam, by force of the sword. At the beginning of the 8th century, they defeated the Khazars, but were unable to take possession of the Black Sea steppes.

To manage different peoples Eastern Europe and to negotiate with the Islamic Arab Caliphate and Christian Byzantium, the Khazars needed their own religion, a written law recognized by other peoples. The Khazar ruler could not become a Muslim or a Christian: he would be dependent on the caliph or the Byzantine emperor. But in the cities that fell under the rule of the Khazars in the Northern Black Sea region - Phanagoria, Tamatarch (Tmutarakan), Bosporus (Kerch) there lived Jewish communities that professed Judaism - the religion Old Testament. And he was revered by both Muslims and Christians. Therefore, the Khazar Kagan chose Judaism.

At the mouth of the Volga - the Khazars called it Itil - the capital of the Khazar Kaganate was built, also Itil (archaeologists still cannot find this city). The Kagan, his governor (bek) and other Khazars who converted to Judaism lived in the brick palace and the surrounding quarter. In another quarter, Muslims settled, including the Kagan’s guards, immigrants from the Central Asian state of Khorezm. In Itil there was also a community of Christians, and even pagans lived - Slavs and Rus'. In the lower reaches of the Don, with the help of Byzantine architects, the Kagan erected the white-stone fortress Sarkel (white tower), which protected the center of his domain.

Byzantium wanted to subordinate the Khazar Khaganate to its influence. In 861, a mission was sent there led by a native of the Greek city of Thessaloniki in Macedonia, Cyril, or Constantine, nicknamed the Philosopher for his learning (Cyril was the monastic name that Constantine took before his death). In Chersonesos, the main Byzantine city of Crimea, Constantine learned Hebrew and other languages. At the court of the Kagan, he conducted theological disputes with learned Jews and even achieved that several Khazar families converted to Christianity. The Kagan himself remained faithful to the Jewish religion.
However, the missionary experience soon came in handy for Constantine.

The ancient and medieval history of mankind holds many mysteries. Even with modern level technologies, there are still blind spots in the study of most issues.

Who were the Khazars? This is one of those problems with no exact answer. We know little about them, but even if we collect all the existing references to this people, even more questions arise.

Let's get to know these interesting people better.

Who are the Khazars

This tribe - the Khazars - is first mentioned in Chinese sources as part of the population great empire Huns. Researchers present several hypotheses regarding the origin of the ethnonym and the ancestral homeland of the Khazars.

Let's first deal with the name. The root of "goats" in many languages Central Asia means a number of words associated with nomadism. This version seems the most plausible, because the others look like this. In Farsi, “Khazar” means “thousand”, the Romans called the emperor Caesar, and the Turks understand oppression by this word.

They try to determine the ancestral home from the earliest records that mention the Khazars. Where did their ancestors live, who were their closest neighbors? There are still no clear answers.

There are three equivalent theories. The first considers them the ancestors of the Uyghurs, the second considers them to be the Hunnic tribe of the Akatsirs, and the third is inclined to believe that the Khazars are the descendants of the tribal union of the Ogurs and Savirs.

Whether this is true or not is difficult to answer. Only one thing is clear. The origin of the Khazars and the beginning of their expansion to the west is connected with the land they called Barsilia.

Mention in written sources

If we analyze the information from the notes of contemporaries, we also get confusion.

On the one hand, existing sources say that it was a powerful empire. On the other hand, the fragmentary information contained in the notes of travelers cannot illustrate anything at all.

The most complete source that reflects the state of affairs in the country is considered to be the correspondence of the Kagan with the Spanish dignitary Hasdai ibn Shaprut. They communicated in writing on the topic of Judaism. The Spaniard was a diplomat who was interested jewish empire, which existed, according to merchants, near the Caspian Sea.

Three letters contain a legend about where the ancient Khazars came from - brief information about cities, the political, social and economic situation.
Other sources, such as Russian chronicles, Arabic, Persian and other references, mainly describe only the causes, course and results of local military conflicts on the borders.

Geography of Khazaria

Kagan Joseph in his letter tells where the Khazars came from, where these tribes lived, and what they did. Let's take a closer look at its description.

So, the empire spread during its period of greatest prosperity from the Southern Bug to the Aral Sea and from the Caucasus Mountains to the Volga in the area around the latitude of the city of Murom.

Numerous tribes lived in this territory. In forest and forest-steppe regions, a sedentary method of farming was common, in the steppe - nomadic. In addition, there were a lot of vineyards near the Caspian Sea.

Most major cities, which the Kagan mentions in his letter, were as follows. The capital, Itil, was located in the lower reaches of the Volga. Sarkel (the Russians called it Belaya Vezha) was located on the Don, and Semender and Belenger were on the coast of the Caspian Sea.

The rise of the Khaganate begins after the collapse of the Turkic Empire, in the middle of the seventh century AD. By this time, the ancestors of the Khazars lived in the area of ​​modern Derbent, in lowland Dagestan. Hence the expansion to the north, west and south.

After the capture of Crimea, the Khazars settled in this territory. She was identified with this ethnonym for a very long time. Even in the sixteenth century, the Genoese referred to the peninsula as "Gazaria".

Thus, the Khazars are an association of Turkic tribes that were able to create the most durable nomadic state in history.

Beliefs in the Khaganate

Due to the fact that the empire was at the crossroads of trade routes, cultures and religions, it became akin to medieval Babylon.

Since the main population of the Kaganate were Turkic peoples, the majority worshiped Tengri Khan. This belief is still preserved in Central Asia.

The nobility of the Kaganate adopted Judaism, which is why it is still believed that the Khazars are Jews. However, this is not entirely true, because only a very small segment of the population professed this religion.

Christians and Muslims were also represented in the state. Due to unsuccessful campaigns against the Arab caliphs in the last decades of the existence of the Kaganate, Islam gained greater freedom in the empire.

But why do they stubbornly believe that the Khazars are Jews? Most probable cause is a legend described by Joseph in a letter. He tells Hasdai that when choosing a state religion, an Orthodox and a rabbi were invited. The latter managed to out-argue everyone and convince the Kagan and his retinue that he was right.

Wars with neighbors

The campaigns against the Khazars are most fully described in Russian chronicles and Arab military records. The Caliphate fought for influence in the Caucasus, and the Slavs, on the one hand, opposed the southern slave traders who robbed villages, and on the other, they strengthened their eastern borders.

The first prince who fought with the Khazar Khaganate was He was able to recapture some lands and forced them to pay tribute to themselves, and not to the Khazars.

More interesting information is about the son of Olga and Igor. He, being a skilled warrior and wise commander, took advantage of the weakness of the empire and dealt a crushing blow to it.

The troops he gathered went down the Volga and took Itil. Next, Sarkel on the Don and Semender on the Caspian coast were captured. This sudden and powerful expansion destroyed the once powerful empire.

After this, Svyatoslav began to gain a foothold in this territory. Vezha was built on the site of Sarkel, and the Vyatichi, a tribe bordering on Russia on one side and Khazaria on the other, were subject to tribute.

An interesting fact is that with all the seeming strife and wars in Kyiv for a long time there was a detachment of Khazar mercenaries. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions the Kozary tract in the capital of Rus'. It was located near the confluence of the Pochayna River and the Dnieper River.

Where did the whole people go?

Conquests, of course, affect the population, but it is noteworthy that after the Slavs defeated the main cities of the Kaganate, information about this people disappears. They are no longer mentioned in a single word or in any chronicle.

The most plausible solution this issue researchers believe the following. Being a Turkic-speaking ethnic group, the Khazars were able to assimilate with their neighbors in the Caspian region.

Today, scientists believe that the bulk dissolved in this region, some remained in Crimea, and most of the noble Khazars moved to Central Europe. There they were able to unite with Jewish communities living in the territory of modern Poland, Hungary, and Western Ukraine.

Thus, some families with Jewish roots and ancestors in these lands, can to some extent call themselves “descendants of the Khazars.”

Traces in archeology

Archaeologists clearly say that the Khazars are the Saltovo-Mayak culture. It was isolated by Gautier in 1927. Since that time, active excavations and research have been carried out.
The culture received its name as a result of the similarity of finds at the two monuments.

The first is a settlement in Verkhny Saltov, Kharkov region, and the second is the Mayatskoye settlement in the Voronezh region.

In principle, the finds are correlated with the Alan ethnic group, who lived in this territory from the eighth to the tenth centuries. However, the roots of this people are in the North Caucasus, so they are associated directly with the Khazar Kaganate.

Researchers divide the finds into two types of burials. The forest version is Alan, and the steppe version is Bulgar, which also includes the Khazars.

Possible descendants

The descendants of the Khazars are another blank spot in the study of the people. The difficulty is that it is almost impossible to trace continuity.

The Saltovo-Mayak culture as such accurately reflects the life of the Alans and Bulgars. The Khazars are listed there conditionally, since there are very few monuments of them. In fact they are random. Written sources “fall silent” after Svyatoslav’s campaign. Therefore, we have to rely on joint hypotheses of archaeologists, linguists and ethnographers.

Today, the most likely descendants of the Khazars are the Kumyks. This is Turkic-speaking. This also includes partially the Karaites, Krymchaks and Judaized mountain tribes of the Caucasus.

Dry residue

Thus, in this article we talked about the fate of such an interesting people as the Khazars. This is not just another ethnic group, but, in fact, a mysterious white spot in medieval history Caspian lands.

They are mentioned in many sources of the Russians, Armenians, Arabs, and Byzantines. Kagan corresponds with the Cordoba Caliphate. Everyone understands the power and strength of this empire...
And suddenly - the lightning campaign of Prince Svyatoslav and the death of this state.

It turns out that the whole empire can within short period not just disappear, but sink into oblivion, leaving descendants with only guesses.

A people who once lived in what is now southern Russia. Their origin is unknown with certainty. Konstantin Porphyrogenitus considers them Turks and translates the Khazar name of the city Sarkela - white hotel. Bayer and Lerberg also take them for Turks, but the word Sarkel is translated differently: the first is a white city, the second is a yellow city. The author of the article published in "Beytr ä ge zur Kenntniss Russlands" (I, 410) recognizes them as Hungarians; Fren attributes them to the Finnish tribe; Klaproth and Budygin consider them Voguls, the Arab writer Ibn el-Efir - Georgians, the geographer Shemeud-din-Dimeshki - Armenians, etc. There is an interesting letter from the Jew Hisdai (see Art. Jews), the treasury of one Arab sovereign in Spain, to the Khozar Kagan and the Kagan’s answer: the Kagan considers X. to be the descendants of Forgoma, from whom the Georgians and Armenians descend. The authenticity of this letter, however, is doubtful. Reliable information about the Khazars begins no earlier than the 2nd century AD, when they occupied the lands north of the Caucasus Mountains. Then their struggle with Armenia begins, mostly victorious, and lasts until the 4th century. With the invasion of the Huns, the Khazars disappeared from the eyes of history until the 6th century. At this time, they occupy a large area: in the east they border with the nomadic tribes of the Turkic tribe, in the north - with the Finns, in the west - with the Bulgarians; in the south their possessions reach the Araks. Having freed themselves from the Huns, the Khazars began to strengthen and threaten neighboring peoples: in the 6th century. the Persian king Kabad built a large rampart in the north of Shirvan, and his son Khozroes built a wall for the fence from the X. In the VII century. The Khazars occupied the territory of the Bulgarians, taking advantage of the discord among them after the death of King Krovat. From this century, X's relations with Byzantium began. The Khazar tribes posed a great danger to the latter: Byzantium had to give them gifts and even become related to them, which Constantine Porphyrogenitus took up arms against, advising them to fight the Khazars with the help of other barbarians - Alans and Guzes. Emperor Heraclius managed to win over the Khazars in his fight against the Persians. Nestor calls the Khazars white Ugrians. Justinian II, who married the sister of the Khazar Kagan, found refuge among the Khazar tribes on the Tauride Peninsula, in the former possessions of the Bulgarians. In 638, Caliph Omar conquered Persia and destroyed neighboring lands. Kh.'s attempt to counteract the conquest of the Arabs ended unsuccessfully: their capital Selinder was taken; Only the defeat of the Arabs on the banks of the Bolanjira River saved the Khazar country from complete devastation. In the 8th century Kh. waged an 80-year war with the caliphate, but had to (although later they attacked the lands of the caliphate) asked the Arabs for peace in 737, which was given to them under the condition of accepting Islam. Unsuccessful wars in the south were rewarded to some extent with successes in the north: around 894, the Khazars, in alliance with the Guzes, defeated the Pechenegs and Hungarians living north of the Tauride Peninsula; Even earlier, they subjugated the Dnieper Slavs and took from them “white from the smoke.”

Thus, in the 9th century. their possessions extended from the northern part of the Caucasus to the lands of the northerners and Radimichi, that is, to the banks of the Desna, Seim, Sula and Sozh rivers. In X century. their possessions expanded further, but death was already close. Russian state grew stronger and united the scattered Slavic tribes. Already Oleg collided with the Khazar Khaganate, subjugating some of the Khazar tributaries. In 966 (or 969) Svyatoslav Igorevich moved to Khozaria and won a complete victory in a decisive battle. Khazaria has fallen. The remnant of the Khozar people remained for some time between the Caspian Sea and Caucasus mountains, but then mixed with the neighbors. In Russian chronicles, the last reference to the Khozars was preserved in 1079, but the name Khozaryan is found in the 14th and even 15th centuries. when listing various servants of the Moscow princes. The Khazars, like the Bulgarians, were a semi-sedentary people. In winter, according to Ibn-Dast’s description, they lived in cities, and with the onset of spring they moved to the steppes. Their main city after the defeat of Selinder was Itil, which stood near the place where Astrakhan is now. The population of Khozaria was diverse and diverse. The head of state himself - the Kagan - accepted Judaism in the 18th century, according to Fotslan and Massudi, together with his governor and the “porphyry-born” - the boyars; the rest of the population professed partly Judaism, partly Islam, partly Christianity; There were also pagans. There is a legend (see "Acta Sanctorum", II, 12-15), accepted by Bestuzhev-Ryumin, that X. asked Emperor Michael for a preacher and that the latter sent St. Kirill. The Khazars' government and court were very original. Arab writers of the 10th century. they say that although the main power belonged to the kagan, it was not he who ruled, but his governor, the infantry (running?); Kagan, in all likelihood, had only religious significance. When the new governor came to the Kagan, the latter threw a silk noose around his neck and asked the half-choked “infantry” how many years he thought of ruling. If he did not die by the time appointed by him, then he was killed. The Kagan lived completely secluded in his palace, with 25 wives and 60 concubines, surrounded by a court of “porphyry-born” and significant guards. He showed himself to people once every 4 months. Access to it was open to the “infantry” and some other dignitaries. After the death of the Kagan, they tried to hide the place of his burial. The Khazar army was numerous and consisted of a permanent detachment and militia. The "infantry" commanded him. For the trial, the Khazars had 9 (according to Ibn-Fotslan) or 7 (according to Gaukal and Massudi) husbands: two were judged according to Jewish law, two - according to Mohammedan law, two - according to the Gospel, one was appointed for the Slavs, Rus and other pagans. Trade in the Khazar Kaganate was transit: they received goods from Rus' and Bulgaria and sent them across the Caspian Sea; expensive goods came to them from Greece, from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. Khazeran, one of the parts of Itil, was a storage place for goods. State revenues were made up of travel duties, tithes on goods brought by land and water, and taxes sent in kind. The Khazars did not have their own coins.

Literature. Fran, "Veteres memoriae Chazarorum" ("Mem. de l"Acad. Sciences", VIII, 1822); Thunmann, "Unters. über die Geschichte der östl. Europ. Vö lker" (trans. Pogodin, "Western Europe", 1823); Evers, "Krit. Vorarbeiten" (translated by Pogodin, "Northern Arch.", 1838); Khvolson, "News about the Khazars, Burtases, Magyars, Slavs and Russians - Ibn-Dasta" (St. Petersburg, 1869); Sum, "Ist. once. about the Khazars" ("Read in "General History", year 2, book 3); V.V. Grigoriev, "Review of the political history of Khazaria" ("Son of the Fatherland." and "Northern Archive", 1835, 17); "On X's mode of government." ("J. M. N. Pr.", 3 books); D. Yazykov, “Experience in the history of Khazaria” (“Proceedings of the Russian Academy of Sciences,” I); B. A. Dorn, “News about Khazaria, eastern source Tabori” (J. M. N. Pr., 1844, book 7); “Historical collection” by Valuev and “Readings in General History,” year 2, 6 (letter from Hisdai and the Kagan’s response in translations by K. Kossovich and Gartenstein). For more detailed instructions, see D. Yazykov.